Aimless

by The Silent Insomniac

Joshua Renalia finds himself lost in the Dragon Realms with nothing but his sleeping clothes, his knowledge of Spyro lore, and a power beyond his understanding. Cut off from all he knows, the human discovers Spyro's world is alien, unforgiving, brutally shattering his naive expectations. How long can he live here before going insane? Is there a way back home? Why is he even here?

38. (Settling In) (41D) Teacher's Pet 2

Author's Notes:

Finally done with this chapter! It's about 12,500 words long.

Something went wrong with the PM notifications for FFN. They weren't going to my email anymore. Stryker says they've been disabled. I hope they allow an option to re-enable this feature.

I've had trouble figuring out the classification for this chapter. I can classify this little monster under "City Life: Employment" or "Settling In" and it'll fit right in. I decided to go with "Settling In" for now, since it's more thematically appropriate.

Anyway, this will be my last chapter for 2019—for the decade, too. In less than a month, our world will enter a new decade. It'll be the 2020s soon, and all I can do is pray for success, good health, and a long life for myself and my loved ones. Not to mention a happy and long-lasting marriage too, since the Big Day's within two weeks of the new decade.

As for my readers, while I don't know any of you personally, I shall wish for success and good health to you too. ^_^ Perhaps you read my story as an escape, or as a way to pass the time. Either way, I am glad my work has some kind of value to you. Thank you so much.

Moving on, here's what my beta Strykeruk has to say for this chapter: "Hi all, Strykeruk here. As always major kudos to Silent for keeping up his ridiculous writing levels. This chapter has been one of my favourite to read thus far. I won't spoil it so I hope to see some good reviews at the end :P By the way it's always a pleasure to read your reviews, occasionally you make points I hadn't considered. I can't speak for Silent though haha."

All I can add to that is that the 38th chapter IS one of those chapters that builds up on what came before. I believe that's why Stryker considers this one as one of his favorites. I hope you all agree with that assessment. Looking forward to your feedback.

Okay, enough boring shit. Let's proceed with the story!

Timestamp key: "D" for days, "W" for weeks, "M" for months, "Y" for years, "EM" for early morning, "LM" for late morning, "EA" for early afternoon, "LA" for late afternoon, "EE" for early evening, "LN" for late night, and "AD" for all day. Note that the Realms follows the sexagesimal system for keeping time, just like Earth. (In other words, 60 seconds per minute and 60 minutes per hour.)

Snip category key: There are four categories of snips. "Settling In", "City Life", "Beyond the Wall", and "The Journey Home". All four represent parallel storylines that take place within Aimless, and other than "Settling In", each snip category has at least two subtypes. Those subtypes aren't listed due to potential spoilers.

Enjoy!

12/13/2019 edit: Thank you, djax80, for noticing a little error I made again. I keep forgetting Joshua has a bad arm...

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Settling In

Chapter 38: Teacher's Pet 2

"If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don't try to teach them. Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking."

- Richard Buckminster Fuller

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[41D/EM]

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It had been four days since that lovely foursome Joshua had in the Audience Chamber.

Four days since the powers-that-be were forced to reevaluate his value to the City of Dragons.

Now the gamer stood before a grand, stone door. It looked incredibly solid, almost as if it was thicker than it was tall. With ornate, flowery decorations appearing to be a work of love by whoever carved them all over its surface. It was also identical to the doors of Proudtail Hall. What the hell was it with Warfang and these slabs of rock?

Joshua Renalia's sixth sense prickled. His hairs went up. He could discern multiple spheres of life in there. It was a large space, the cavern within, and while he could recognize Volteer's life signature, he couldn't associate any of the remaining twenty-six clumped together with a muzzle he personally knew.

He exhaled. Anxiety bubbled up his heart. It was as a string of doubt, nagging at him, urging him to turn around and retreat. Surely he wasn't ready for this—

Joshua felt a leathery snout the size of a motorcycle helmet brush his cheek, where it left a soft, warm, and meaty breath in its wake. He turned and found himself staring at Cynder's emerald green eyes. Up close like this, it wasn't hard to notice the smile on her black-scaled muzzle. "You look like you're staring at tornadoes, Joshua. Ground yourself. You'll be fine!"

The life signatures swirling inside the lecture hall each emitted slight heat, their rotation speeds varying as Volteer's voice—he could barely hear it through the rock—fluctuated in tone and pitch. All signs of anticipation.

For the second time, he felt fear. He felt anxiety. "I, I don't know. I d-don't think I'm ready for this, Cynder."

"Other dragons like to say, 'You won't know how high you can soar until your first jump'," she said. "So don't lose your scales worrying too much. You won't be alone in Windvale Arena. Your guards aside, I'm here, Volteer's here"—her wing gestured at a dragon opposite her—"even Spyro's here. You're completely safe. We all have your neck. What's the worst that can happen?"

Spyro replied before Joshua could, "Unintended consequences, up to and including death, that's what! Cyn, listen to me. Stop this madness! You and Volteer don't know what you're doing."

The black dragoness trained a cold, intimidating stare at her mate. She wasn't smiling. "Yes, we, do."

"No, you, don't! Have you heard what they've been calling the furless ape these days? Dragonbane, Cynder. Dragonbane! That magic he's got has killed people! And you want him to use that same magic on Temple apprentices? I'm telling you, if your little pet"—f*ck, could he just STOP calling him that?—"goes out of control in there, it'll be a disaster! Warfang might even turn on you for causing it—

"Cause what?" Cynder reiterated. "Putting Warfang on the path of self-reflection AGAIN? The city's against me, Spyro. They've always been, all this time. They don't see—they don't recognize the effort I'm putting in, just like YOU don't recognize the goodwill and determination Joshua's been clawing out of himself!"

"The furless ape is different from you, Cyn—

"How, Spyro? I've asked you time and time again and you NEVER give me a straight answer!"

"That's because you won't understand!"

"Then why won't you say it properly and HELP me understand?"

The stone door creaked open. A mole stuck their pointy snout out the small opening. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything here, Lord Spyro, Lady Cynder. It's almost time. Is the dra—is the... furless ape ready?"

Damn piece of shit was about to call him a dragon killer! Joshua fumed. Man, this dark reputation of his was a bitch to extinguish.

"Cynder, I—give me a few more—

"Tell Master Volteer he's ready," Cynder said.

OH COME F*CKING ON!

Cynder must have seen the look on his face, otherwise she wouldn't have placed her forepaw on his shoulder and pull him into a quick, but tight hug. "You can do it, Joshua. I know you can. You want to fly higher in Warfang? Here's your chance. Give it your best."

"Uh... uh huh..."

Oh Lordy he was boned. So f*cking booooned! As much as he despised Spyro right now, that purple lizard was right. He wasn't ready. They weren't ready. They should just stop this shit before it was too late.

Cynder naturally wasn't around to his next barrage of excuses. After giving Joshua a little pep talk the dragoness instantly directed her attention to the four Talonpoint knights trailing his entourage. "Stay vigilant," she said. "Even whelps soaring in the winds of puberty hold considerable power." Both ends of her lips curved to form a wry smirk. "We are dragons after all."

As the Savior immersed herself in giving out specific instructions and advice on various situations, her male counterpart—and the true Savior among the two—approached Joshua, his eyes boring down at him. The gamer stared up at Spyro, the embers of defiance igniting in his eyes.

Spyro went as far as bringing his head down until his eyes were level with Joshua's, and nudged his snout towards his nose. "I'm watching you, furless ape," he snarled. "Do anything to the apprentices and I will take you down so hard you will wish I killed you."

Joshua sensed Cynder's sphere of life shrink in response to Spyro's actions. It brightened slightly, indicating she was ready to attack if her mate dared to make a move on the gamer. Yet, she did nothing. She merely glared at Spyro. Watched him very intently.

Joshua Renalia scowled at the Purple Dragon. "Go ahead and watch me then, asshole!" He replied. "Maybe you've got good reasons to be wary, but you only focus on things that support what you believe. You don't really know shit."

As soon as the insult flew out his mouth, Spyro lunged at Joshua and slammed his horns on his head with a sudden crack. The gamer fell on his crippled arm and flopped down on the floor, a blunt sledgehammer throbbing on his forehead. "Ah, shit! F*cking hell!"

"Spyro!" admonished Cynder, her tail stiff from fury. She stomped over to her mate. "We just talked about this last night! You told me you wouldn't—

"He provoked me!" he said, indignant. "I just gave your pet exactly what he deserved."

"With how long you've been poking his scales, of course Joshua provoked you! Ancestors, I do the same thing too and—

The massive doors suddenly opened, cutting into the budding argument. It took two moles to push them until they made contact with the wall. One was the mole from earlier and the other was... oh my God, it's Blink. What's he doing there?

Joshua Renalia didn't have any time to accost the mole pup, let alone ponder. The many life signatures in Windvale Arena churned the second he was exposed to them. He shifted his attention to the physical world and, with dilating viridian eyes, gazed back at Volteer and about twenty-five apprentices ogling him from inside.

"Come in, Joshua," Volteer said, giving the best impression of a nonchalant old fogy who didn't give a damn what others thought.

Joshua lifted his leg to start moving, but he found himself paralyzed. He couldn't help scanning each apprentice's snout. All of them without exception were whispering to each other, eyes glancing back at him every now and then. Their facial expressions varied. They ranged from frightened and nervous to uncertain, even furious. Even their spheres of life acted as such.

Red, yellow.

Fast, slow.

Large, small.

Quaking, crackling.

Volteer was the only one among them who displayed any sort of composure, whether it be his still, relaxed posture in the real world or the smooth surface of a blue star perceivable only to Joshua, rotating on its axis at an even and harmonious speed.

"Do not be afraid," Joshua swore he heard the old reptile mutter. "This is the chance you've been waiting for. Come and take it!"

It took a few more attempts for Joshua Renalia to force his legs to move. When they finally moved, his sandals echoed in the chamber. They were as footsteps in a haunted hallway. They rang loud in the ears. A steady yet ominous rhythm.

The murmuring of the Guardian's audience became clearer in his enhanced hearing when he strolled into Windvale Arena, flanked by both heroes of the great war and his escort of four Talonpoint knights.

"Azeroth, the furless ape—

"—didn't throw him in the dungeon—

"—crazy! Egeria, this old fart seriously expects—

Volteer's wings flared a bright yellow before he swung them open. A loud boom ensued and momentarily silenced the apprentices. "Ground yourselves!" he exclaimed. "As I have explained before, because of your lounge's dismal performance this entire season in spite of generous, bountiful, munificent support from the Temple, to ensure you all have the best chances of passing the Summer Examinations this coming Valorem, Cynder and I decided on an unconventional approach."

Joshua watched an Electric apprentice raise his—her head and speak. "B-but Master Volteer, bringing out the, t-the Dragonbane isn't—

The Guardian grunted. "Are you questioning our judgment, young dragon?"

"N-no, Master Volteer." The dragoness backed off, her tail and wings going limp. "I just thought you made arrangements with, with Lord Spyro."

"I did, along with my fellow Guardians. The Savior presided over a couple remedial lectures earlier this week before he had to delegate his duties to Talonpoint Keep due to"—Volteer trained his critical gaze on Spyro, Cynder, and Joshua, but only for a moment—"extenuating and highly personal circumstances. Now if I remember correctly, those lectures were held just last Meredy..."

"Thank you, Master Volteer." When she sat back down on her haunches, her mood darkened and her sphere of life shrunk in on itself, displaying signs of stess and emotional turmoil. She probably missed the lecture, Joshua thought.

A few more questions arose from the audience. Mainly concerning themselves with the fact Spyro and Cynder weren't doing anything today, it dawned on the gamer that all of them were practically flying around the gargantuan elephant sitting in the room. Nobody brought up their feelings of rage, grief, or even fright, not when it was so painfully and ostensibly clear that Volteer orchestrated Joshua's presence in Windvale Arena.

Joshua searched among the apprentices for a young, familiar muzzle. He looked, and looked, for a pair of excited cobalt eyes, a pair of smooth ram horns, or a one-winged dragon idling in the back somewhere. But it was futile.

Kilat was not here.

And why would she? The little girl was a prodigy! She wouldn't even be in lecture halls as a fellow teacher if it weren't for her l337 skills with the Electricity element.

God, he missed her terribly. Joshua wanted to run his hand along Kilat's scales, pinch the child's smiling lips, and kiss her cute little forehead now more than ever before. He yearned for her defense just as much as he sought out the security and comfort of his sister's warm, golden scales.

"Good luck," Spyro sneered at Joshua. He took flight and settled down on the elevated seats several meters away. To his surprise, Windvale Arena wasn't entirely underground. It had windows, just like Alona Hall and the Audience Chamber. However, its windows were only found high above the stands and their narrow openings led directly to the clearing surrounding the Temple in its entirety. The smell of myriad flowers made it painfully obvious Windvale Arena was situated near the Botanical Gardens.

Joshua bristled at the hero's farewell. That f*cking bastard had no faith in him at all. He ogled Spyro for a few seconds, paying attention to the self-confidence filling his sphere of life. At first glance it was as tranquil as Volteer's, but Joshua could—he swore he could feel the violent turbulence beneath, see flashes of yellow and orange beneath is blue surface. Jesus Christ, was it really so hard for the guy to just admit he was wrong about him?

"Good luck," spoke Cynder, her lighter, supportive tone a stark contrast to her mate's sardonic remark. "Don't forget what I said." She took to the air and touched down at the seat next to Spyro. Joshua watched the dragoness lay herself down on her side, with the full length of an adult dragon separating them from each other.

Joshua didn't have to check her life signature to know how awkward it was to be this close to him. Her body language was practically screaming. He grimaced. Clearly the argument they had the other day widened the chasm between his heroes. He worried; he didn't want to be the reason for his OTP to split up. No Spyro fan would.

"Joshua?" Volteer cut into his thoughts. "Come along. We're waiting."

...right, best not to let this chance slip away. With only his escort of knights, Joshua Renalia bravely traversed across the floor of Windvale Arena. The apprentices stepped aside, the cloud of dragons parting right in the middle to let the gamer pass through.

The Talonpoint knights surrounded him in a square formation. Two adult dragons in magically enchanted armor thundered behind him in-step, and two bipeds clad in the same walked ahead, hands on their hilts. Their spheres of life were frigid and shrunk, ready to spring into action in an instant.

Joshua, from the center of this formation, scanned the apprentices and their scaly muzzles. All were predominantly stained in various shades of yellow. Secondary colors came in hues of red, green, or blue, as though suggesting family lineage. Some had horns. Others hadn't. Some had frills for ears like Kilat and Vara, while others had either earflaps like Red Lady or earholes like the two Saviors. There were even a few with manes.

It astonished Joshua that he also recognized one of them. A dragon with blue scales from top to bottom, featuring white stripes and bands on their body, as well as their eyes. It was someone he glimpsed every now and then whenever he walked through Residential Area 2F on his way to or out the utilidor network.

If the people he personally knew and the month and a half he spent living in the Temple didn't already impress Joshua with the feeling he was seeing FurAffinity and DeviantArt come to life, the sheer diversity certainly did.

And it was nowhere near as cheerful or happy as the artwork on those websites made it out to be. As the gamer expected, every dragon sans Volteer sported expressions of anxiety, anger, or disbelief. It was one thing to observe them indirectly as spheres of light in his sixth sense, as stars in a dark sky only he can perceive. To see them with his own eyes—to behold every detail in the physical world was another.

Volteer's grandfatherly voice returned from the void of silence the moment Joshua placed himself adjacent to the only adult in the arena. "News travels fast through the airstreams. Hence, I anticipate that some of you are already aware of the latest incidents concerning our... human guest." Volteer took his sweet time figuring out the proper label to put on him. Thank God he wasn't calling him a furless ape or Dragonbane like the rest of Warfang. "Specifically, the ones concerning a junior apprentice in this very Temple."

The crowd whispered to each other once more. Joshua tried not to pay attention, yet even he could not prevent the words "Alona Hall" and "Third Floor" from reaching his ears. It surprised him. To think people already knew about the night Vara went upstairs in deliberate violation of the rules and sought him out.

"My fellow Guardians and I"—he glanced at both Spyro and Cynder resting on the seats behind him—"including the Saviors investigated these events thoroughly. After much discussion, dialogue, debate, and convention amongst ourselves, we came across a particular characteristic of Joshua's Element. One that Cynder and I believe can help those who are struggling to keep up with their peers, who for whatever reason are underperforming the tasks their novitiates, teachers, and mentors assign to them."

Volteer brought his gaze downward. "Joshua, step forward. I leave the rest to you."

Before the human could even comply, several dragons verbalized their refusal. "No!" cacophonously shrieked multiple voices.

"The furless ape has no business flying around the Temple like—

"You can go jump in a volcano, Dragonbane!"

"He killed my big brother! Just kill him for Alona's sake!"

"Ancestors, look at him, look how healthy he is!"

The second someone said that, several apprentices already in the back blanched and backed away several steps.

"T-the airstreams are true! T-t-they're, t-they're really keeping him on the third floor!"

"Why isn't Dragonbane in chains?"

"You stupid egg! You're just noticing this NOW? He walked in with an entourage!"

Volteer raised his voice above the din. "Cease and desist, dear apprentices, and stay aloft! Egeria's Wings, you're all beating the wind. We're doing this for your flights. I implore you, realize we have your necks."

"Azeroth's cloaca! You're flying blind, you old bat!" someone yelled.

"Suck an egg!"

"The furless ape can go eat dragon dung!"

"Oh did you know he's a manual scavenger? He's more than halfway there, I say!"

"HAH!"

Volteer gritted his fangs. His sphere of life turned red and began to spin faster. He was getting angry, yet his empathy for his apprentices was the only thing stopping him from going "full Guardian" on them. "Azeroth the Infinite, ground yourselves. He's done nothing!"

That triggered the crowd. Their spheres of life shifted instantly from gray fear and yellow agitation to varying shades of crimson. "Nothing? Nothing? He murdered my friend!"

"Wasn't he brainwashing some Ice dragon a few days ago?"

"Yeah! The furless ape already entralled a little girl!"

"He's just using you, Master Volteer!"

"Please believe us!"

"Lord Spyro, help us!"

"Kill the Dragonbane!"

"Kill the Dragonbane!"

"KILL THE DRAGONBANE!"

Joshua sensed agitation in both Spyro's and Cynder's spheres of life. He turned to take a look, eyes widening when he saw the two facing off against each other. Sparx had joined them at some point, and he too, was buzzing on the dragoness's side with a placating look on his face. They were arguing, but he couldn't hear them above the raucous noise.

Joshua and Volteer shared a glance. His muzzle sported an expression of defeat, of resignation. Vara's case—the way he helped her—the way he developed a friendship with her—had given the old dragon hope. Hope dashed and ground to dust by the irrationality of the crowd.

"Why is Lady Cynder stopping him?" screeched one of the dragonesses in the group.

"Lifebringer's tail, she's defending the furless ape."

Like the Electric Guardian, Joshua Renalia had no idea what to do. They'd lynch him if he spoke out loud, and with their numbers they might just get through the Talonpoint knights. He scrunched his eyes and ignored the yelling, the shouting. Mana was starting to churn and if this didn't stop, his guards might have to act.

There had to be another way. Surely, there's one. He just wasn't—

There were two life signature standing still, their spheres blue and slow to rotate. They had the composure of unbending steel. Joshua opened his eyes and focused on them.

One belonged to a red cheetah, who was leaning on the doorway that led into the utilidor network. He recognized him as the feline orphan master who handed him some urine-soaked garments out of charity. What was he doing here? How did he get here? Why was he here? F*ck, he forgot his name...

And the other was none other than Blink. The mole pup was seated next to the other mole who opened Windvale Arena's doors for him. Like the cheetah, Blink's watchful eyes did not waver. They were trained on him, anticipating his next move.

It finally dawned on Joshua that everyone he'd ever been in contact with was paying attention here. Volteer, Spyro, Sparx, Cynder, Blink, and the red cheetah. The gamer was not sure what connections Blink or the cheetah offered, yet this was just like the day the Guardians and the Council examined his background all over again, except this time it had all happened because of a chance encounter with a dragoness who couldn't—who wouldn't kill him.

What he would do now—what he would say now, it would most certainly affect his life going forward.

It's been a long time since he arrived here—a month and a week, if he remembered the Gregorian calendar right—and things were just starting to pick up.

Sure, Joshua could let this play out to its very end. Where would that take him? Spyro and Cynder were fighting, Volteer couldn't pacify the crowd, and the crowd looked like they couldn't decide on running him out of Windvale Arena or ripping him to pieces before his guards could do anything about it. Judging by the way things were happening, sooner or later Volteer would demonstrate his full power and authority to dominate the crowd and silence them before dragging him away. Then there won't be another chance like this again. He'd be right back where he started, working a thankless job with fanatics scooping up excreta.

He would have no friends.

He would be confined to Proudtail Hall, the utilidors, or his room all the time.

He would truly be a prisoner then, with no life of his own.

He couldn't believe that could actually happen. Why? Because it was solid, indisputable fact that he was still living out a true Spyro fanboy's dream. That he was living in a video game world. Sure, his first couple weeks were rough—they were, at best, an educational experience on the dangers of surviving in the wilds and how quickly a sedentary gamer like him would die out there—and Joshua wouldn't hesitate to admit how much he hated living in Warfang and its medieval, uncivilized cultures.

Yet this was still another world!

A literal whole new world!

Joshua Renalia hadn't given up on going back to Earth. Nope. No way. Over his dead f*cking body. By the Grace of God, he hoped to see his family and his girlfriend again. He prayed practically every night for it. But! If there was one thing he learned from a life steeped in repeated encounters of the same tropes and plot devices whether he was playing video games, watching movies, or reading fanfiction, it was that the journey was so much more important than the destination. There certainly wasn't wrong with taking a few detours here and there, on his journey home.

The gamer couldn't let this opportunity for more freedom slip out his grasp. He could sense his fingers—his hands still shaking madly. He was afraid. Afraid of the reptiles clamoring before his eyes. Afraid of their prejudice. Of their wrath. Of being torn apart limb from limb.

As fearful as he was of their teeth, their fangs, their claws, and the magic they had at their disposal... Joshua was far more terrified of living in isolation with his own thoughts and work to keep him company.

Joshua lifted his gaze, straightened his stance, and looked ahead. His viridian eyes focused not just on the dragons before him, but also their pulses of life. The spheres of light. He stretched forth his sense of self—his ego boundaries—and enveloped it around all twenty-five.

Then he made contact.

He stumbled, almost collapsed, from the alien sensations assaulting his heart and mind. From what little he could evaluate, it was a mixture of what everybody was feeling. A rushing spike of heat in his heart. An emotion he couldn't name boiling his skin, turning everything into shades of red. A topsy-turvy confusion that made moving his legs—that made doing anything impossible.

It was a different animal from Alona Hall. It strained him.

Pop!

A warm liquid trickled down his nose. Joshua didn't want to know what the f*ck that was, but the longer he remained "linked" like this, the worse things would get. But he had to do this. Because if he could hide himself away from the senses of other people by becoming imperceptible to them, then he could—he had to fool their senses in another way! Joshua slowly raised his good arm and, with nothing more but the mental photograph of a Chinese gong, a memory of thunder booming in the darkened skies of Houston, Texas, he slapped on his chest.

As one the apprentices ceased all movement and noise. To the people observing this spectacle, they heard nothing. They only saw Joshua clap his hands, the sound disappearing all too easily into irrelevance. But to the remaining dragons in Windvale Arena, a loud, crashing sound filled their ears, seemingly originating from Joshua's direction. It overwhelmed them completely. Many recoiled out of surprise. Almost all shifted their gazes away from Volteer or the Saviors, their slit pupils ogling the only human being in their midst.

Joshua gulped. This was it. His moment. Now or never. He took a couple steps forward. It felt like eternity to him. "Everyone. I'm... I-I'm... I..."

He steeled his nerves. He forced his hands to stop quivering and squeezed the plea out of his mouth. "I know there's a, there's a lot of things being said out there about me. I don't exactly know what all that shit is, but let's get the, uhh"—gotta pick the right idiom here; he needed them to understand—"let's get the, the flight details right.

"I'm living on the third floor, that's true. It's also true I've got a job scraping up your dung in the lavatoria." That comment chilled a few life signatures in the crowd. Guess they found it funny, if schadenfreude. "And that incident you heard about, the two involving one of you? I know it's hard for you to believe it, but I really DID help her. She was on a collision course with failure and I F*CKING SAVED HER ASS!"

He yelled out those words out at the top of his voice. Nobody said anything in reply. "You can call me a liar, a manipulator, a scammer, or whatever you f*cking want," Joshua went on, "but the truth is I saved somebody's apprenticeship! If you don't believe me, the Office of the Keeper has records and you can always ask Volteer in private. Fact is, my shit's for real! Do you think that dragoness would've risked expulsion going upstairs to find me if it wasn't? I'm sure any of you would've done the same in her place!"

The crowd listened to the gamer. As he verbalized his impromptu yet passionate speech, many dragons began glancing at each other. Rather than anger and indignation, rather than recalcitrance filling their expressions, they now had pensive looks on their muzzles, their lips curved into a slight frown. One by one, the bright scarlet staining their spheres of life shrank in size, slowed down, became smooth, and turned orange going yellow.

There were still a couple holdouts whose signatures were a deep blood red in Joshua's sixth sense, but surely he was winning over the rest. "Right now Volteer and Cynder are giving ALL OF YOU the opportunity to work with me and help yourselves without the threat of expulsion. I understand why, why none of you feel safe. I won't lie to you. It's true that my Element—it's true that I killed people when I showed up at the eastern gates, but I swear I only acted in self-defense. I don't want to hurt anyone! Besides, Spyro's here, too. How can I POSSIBLY do anything? So please—I'm begging you—please give me a chance!"

And with that, Joshua Renalia bowed his head. He bent his body low, a gesture of prostration that would make any Japanese national proud. He shut his eyes for good measure; that did nothing to impede his passive life detection.

The crowd was quiet. It stayed quiet. None of the dragons spoke in response to his pleas. Had he been watching them, he would've seen them shooting awkward glances at each other, for no one wanted to make the first move. Even here, in another world, Latané and Darley's bystander effect still applied, and to great effect. Joshua resisted the urge to straighten his back. His form quaked. He felt water in his eyes. Seriously? Not one person was gonna f*cking come up to him? AFTER ALL THAT?

None of their life signatures reverted back to a tranquil blue sphere. All remained a diffident and indecisive yellow.

Goddammit.

God-f*cking dammit!

He wanted to cry.

He wanted to shout.

He wanted to...

Shit! He didn't know what to do.

Was one chance—one little f*cking chance so f*cking much to ask? This past forty or so days, everybody who was anybody in the City of Dragons had given Joshua many opportunities to prove himself and he had passed each one! He wouldn't be standing here in front of a large group like this if he failed their tests. Hell, as much as Spyro was paranoid about him, that dragon never actively sabotaged Volteer's or Cynder's efforts to make this happen. So why? Why wouldn't the regular people give him a shot? Did they already forget he rebuffed Kaos's offer to move to Skylands a week ago?

.

.

.

"You just refused the offer of a lifetime, you bottom-dweller! YOU'LL REGRET THIS!"

.

.

.

The last words Joshua received from the Portal Master echoed in his mind. He lifted his head, pausing to wipe away the tears forming in his eyes. Spheres were still yellow, with a few remaining red. Joshua could only sigh. He did the best he could, and it was loud and clear that Warfang as a whole was not yet ready for him.

Joshua turned and looked up at Volteer. His eyes refused to gaze at either Cynder or Spyro, and he did everything to not cheat with his sixth sense. "Volteer, I'm sorry. I, I guess they're not yet ready."

The old dragon smiled back at him. "It's all right, young one. You did your best. It appears that I... that Cynder and I miscalculated. My apologies."

"Please," Joshua requested, his voice shaky, "bring, b-bring me back to my room."

"Very well." Volteer turned to the Talonpoint Knight closest to him. A fellow Electric dragon, like him. "Coloumbrin, return our guest to—

Claws clacking against the stone floor interrupted him. The sound was oppressively loud in this silence. Joshua shifted his gaze and regarded the only dragon that moved, with an expectant glint in his eyes.

It was the blue one with stripes. If it weren't for the fact they were in this lounge, Joshua would've mistaken them for an Ice dragon. A pair of crimson eyes drilled right into him. There was no mistaking the grumpy frown on their snout. The closer Joshua studied the dragon, the more he realized it was male. A well-built one too, for someone young.

Joshua's face fell into dismay. The dragon's sphere of life was bathed in a stunningly bright crimson. The gamer shook off his astonishment—and the depressing feeling of failure—and gritted his teeth, putting himself on guard. If he abhorred him that much, then what business did he have walking up to him like this? He had guards. There was no way this f*cker could hurt him without serious punishment.

"Korahnir!" Someone hollered from the crowd. A smaller dragon with scales the shade of durian. Also male. His life burned red too. "Valorem the Principled, what're you doing? Don't you hate the furless ape? I thought you wanted to tear his horns off! Are you seriously going to just walk up to him and—

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!" the dragon yelled right back. "I'm done watching. People here don't have the cloaca to actually speak up and address the hurricane in front of us!"

Korahnir kept walking until they were a few meters apart—a space equivalent to an SUV. He was an adolescent like Vara, yet he was huge for his age. Their eyes were level. His scales were clean, its navy blue shining lustrously in the sunlight. Joshua shuddered at the colorless horns jutting out from the back of his head in a straight line. They were thick; they seemed sturdy enough to slam the human into the wall and crush him. "I'm not stupid, Dragonbane. None of us are." He glared at Joshua and postured discordantly at him. The presence of four Talonpoint knights and the Electric Guardian himself deterred any hotheaded actions. "You have high-flyers giving you tailwinds. If no one does anything now, then you'll just be presented in front of another lounge."

"They probably will," Joshua agreed. "I'll have to go back scraping shit up for a few days or weeks, but I doubt they'll give up on me that easily." He stopped himself from flinching when the reptile bared his fangs at him. Jesus f*cking Christ, this guy was hostile! "Look, dude, like it or not, I DO have something to offer here. I can—

"I don't care what you can do!" Korahnir cut him off. "You can control all the Elements like Lord Spyro and, Vulcan's Flames, I'll STILL fly through this crevice!" Joshua couldn't stop staring at his red eyes. There was so much hate in them. "You murdered my father last cycle. You think I'll leave that to Gintomyr just because you can help me with my apprenticeship?" His thick tail slapped the floor with a loud, numbing thud. Joshua blanched. He could feel the vibrations from this close. "You need to pay. You need to pay for all the grief you caused, and you have to pay for it with blood!"

"C'mon, dude! I said it earlier! It wasn't my fault. It's self-defense—

"Enough with the dragon dung! You still killed my Dad! Can your dumb ape brain comprehend what you stole from me that day? What you took away from us?" He gestured to the crowd behind him. "You didn't even have to hurt their friends and family! They're already staring at tornadoes just THINKING someone as dangerous as you is living among us. Ancestors, there is no way I'm letting a demon like you interact with my loungemates and friends as if nothing happened! I'll kill you first."

The words put Joshua and everybody else around him on guard. There was a very real possibility this livid dragon might just assault him with the intent of sinking his teeth into his jugular. Joshua couldn't read his sphere of life beyond "hatred". It had collapsed in on itself, ready to explode. One wrong move—one wrong word could set off the fireworks. Begging for mercy like he did with Vara was NOT going to work this time around.

"K-Kor"—Korahnir snarled. Shit! Even verbalizing his name almost set him off.—"Dude! Okay, I won't use your name, Jesus!" Joshua raised his hands in an attempt to pacify the adolescent reptile. "I know what I've done, alright? Nothing I'll ever do can bring your father back, but, but I've been trying to make up for it, every single damn f*cking day I've been living here!" He glanced at Cynder, who had managed to keep Spyro in control and now observed him from the seats, if somewhat nervously. "Look at Cynder. She used to be the Terror of the Skies. How many dragons do you think she's killed during the War? How many innocents? Yet she's still here. Y'all even revere her as one of the Saviors—

"Bad example," Korahnir stated, deadpan. "Lots of people still hate her. They all want her dead. Still, they do nothing out of respect for Lord Spyro and the Guardians."

"Errr, well, I... I, uhm—

"And it's not that I don't understand where you're coming from. I understand your reasoning just fine." His eyes narrowed. "It's just that you killed my Dad! This is personal! I feel his absence every day I come home with my brother!"

"I'm sorry, okay? Really, I'm sorry I put you through that! But I told you, it's self-defense. I would've died if I didn't do anything!"

"If you're so sorry, then go and throw yourself off that balcony you go to on the upper levels!"

"Oh come on, Corey—

Another growl. "Use my name again, Dragonbane, and I'll—

"I didn't f*cking use your name, you twat! Besides, why the hell am I gonna kill myself? You're being completely f*cking unreasonable!" Call him stupid, but the next thing Joshua did was step forward. One, two, three... five steps forward. Korahnir actually had to stop himself from taking a step back. He could sense it. His sphere of life wasn't as red as earlier. "Dude, come on, Volteer—Master Volteer set this up so I can try helping you guys prepare for your Summer exams. We're here already. Please, just give me a chance. One little f*cking chance. That's all I'm asking for. If that doesn't work, I'm back to scooping up your crap for a living."

The silence between them was so palpable and oppressive that Joshua nearly missed his reply. "This is insulting," he finally said, frowning at the gamer. "You're not just the butcher responsible for the Incident; you have no business handling Electricity! I don't know why they're all saying you have an Element, but whatever it is, it's not even the same! I could be speaking to a grayscale right now and nothing would change."

"I assure you, Korahnir," Volteer replied, his words laced with traces of irritation, "that Joshua's Element has special attributes on its own. If needed, I can make arrangements to summon Vara to Windvale Arena and have her testify on—

Vara's name slipped out of the old reptile's snout, though it didn't solicit any reaction from Korahnir. He didn't know her. "You don't have to, Master Volteer," he said. "I don't care if it's real or not. It doesn't matter to me. I simply refuse to accept help from the Ape who killed my father."

Korahnir's life signature cooled a little, its rippling surface a pale rose, then a dull yellow. In the physical world the blue dragon turned away, unwilling to look at the Guardian in the eye, and sat on his haunches.

Volteer got on his feet and ambled towards Joshua, to stand beside him. "Are there ANY volunteers?" he asked the crowd. His eyes scanned the group. The gamer figured he was searching for anyone who showed signs of willingness. He was probably going to call someone out, to snap them out of bystander apathy. "Anyone?"

No response. A few dragons started murmuring with one another.

"Another attempt is warranted," Joshua heard Volteer mutter under his breath. "For the first apprentice to volunteer, I will PERSONALLY speak with the senior fellow or novitiate in charge of you and officially endorse you for your bravery, your courage, your daring spirit to challenge the status quo, the null hypothesis, and embrace unconventional thinking! ALL, IN, WRITING."

Though desperate, adding an incentive changed things. The announcement stirred the crowd. Joshua Renalia didn't exactly know what benefits could be gained from having Volteer's personal endorsement, but he was a Guardian, one of the highest authorities in the City of Dragons. Surely something like that would pay enormous dividends anywhere in Warfang. In the Allied Territories.

The spheres of life turned vicissitudal. Spikes burst out of their smooth surfaces. Waves rippled on them, as they began fluctuating in size. Joshua watched the reptiles fidgeting. Any moron could see the desire to go forward and present themselves in their expressions.

Korahnir noticed this too. He glowered at Joshua. There was also a knowing scowl on his snout, as if he was saying, "You'd never have gotten this far if you didn't have friends in high places, you bastard."

Yet even the reward Volteer laid out on the table could do so much to overturn the universal force that was inertia. Hues of yellow and yellow-green pulsed through the crowd, but they didn't move. It's so close, Joshua thought. Just one more push, one more incentive—a little more icing on the cake, and this lounge of fearful, overgrown lizards would surely begin jostling for the first in line.

Volteer held his head high above him, above the apprentices' snouts. The poor guy was still waiting for a good sign, for that first volunteer. Joshua Renalia already had something else in mind. Something that should definitely get the reaction they wanted. He put on his poker face and silently apologized, Sorry, dude, please don't get mad at me.

Joshua cleared his throat to raise his voice a few decibels. "They're playing hard to get, Volteer! We've got no choice but to go with that plan! I know it's our last resort, but your apprentices are just too stubborn!"

.

.

.

Unfortunately the gamer never got to actually say those words.

He had only just begun to speak when Korahnir roared. His bestial, animalistic snarl not only drowned out Joshua's voice; it also startled him, putting him into a momentary stupor long enough for the dragon to seize initiative.

"YOU SMUSHED EGGS! What are you all waiting for? This is your chance to prove Dragonbane's impotence and show the Guardians—the Saviors!—there isn't any value keeping this Ancestors-damned furless ape alive! Come over here and let's expose him for the FRAUD he is!"

Korahnir stomped to a lean, rather malnourished dragon in the audience. He hadn't had a decent meal in a while, it seemed. Or a decent life, for that matter. "Hey, you. Come over here."

His life signature quaked at Korahnir's approach. A shudder coursed through the dragon. "Sorry, Master Volteer! I'll—I-I'll go figure things out on my own." He took flight before anyone could react and soared to the windows atop Windvale Arena, flying so fast as if he was being chased by the devil himself.

"Get back here!" growled Korahnir, "Or else I'll—

Aaaand he was gone.

Korahnir flared his nostrils and bared his fangs. "Why that lily-livered runt..."

The departure of one resulted in an exodus. Without warning, another nine dragons snapped their wings open and leaped to the air. Apologies were murmured, directed mainly to the Electric Guardian, who clearly organized the entire affair. Joshua wasn't sure the old dragon actually heard them.

Even if he did, the disappointment plastered on his wizened snout divulged plenty.

Thankfully the remaining fourteen stayed behind, hesitant to either step forward or abscond the arena.

Korahnir was livid at their inaction. "So that's how it'll go, huh? Fine!" A menacing growl rumbled in his throat. "Lifebringer damn them... forcing me to do every damn thing myself."

He turned around and, getting to his feet again, faced Joshua. "Alright, Dragonbane, looks like I'il be your first victim."

Joshua courageously took the first few steps towards Korahnir. He raised his arm, to show he had no ill intent. "You make it sound like I'm really gonna hurt you," the gamer chuckled nervously. "It'll be fine. You're just being too paranoid."

"Shut up and take flight already!" The dragon stretched his neck forward without warning and snapped his jaws at Joshua. The fangs clacked shut in front of him. He felt the sudden rush of air—of warm, humid air—tickle his neck.

He had been taken by complete and utter surprise. Joshua panicked slightly as he realized Corey would've gotten his neck had he been a foot or two closer! The memory of his life hanging between a Death Wolf's jaws came rushing back and rooted the human in place. A sobering reminder that these people—these beasts—were still very dangerous.

Metal jingled behind him. Seriphos' life signature moved up, a blue light shrinking in on itself. Making itself more compact. "Fly through that crevice again, I dare you," the Earth dragon intoned as he circulated his mana.

Korahnir barked out a sadistic laugh. "Ha! Look at that! He's staring at tornadoes."

Joshua took deep breaths. You're in Warfang, he reminded himself. You're not alone in that f*cking forest!

A few moments later the gamer shook off the astonishment. He glared at the sneering reptile in front of him, angrily. How he wanted to punch Corey's snout in! "You asshole," he said.

"I don't need your fake, honeyed words, furless ape," Korahnir replied. "Now are you taking flight or will you just admit you're actually useless?"

Joshua scowled. "F*ck you. Do you want me to help you or not?" Because he definitely acted like he didn't. Christ, his life signature had turned red again.

"No! But since everybody's being smushed eggs, I'm giving you that chance you wanted," he said.

"Well you—

"And as far as I know, you are miserably failing."

This goddamn f*cker. If only Vara or Kilat were here. Things would have been so much easier with them around. Having the adults or the Saviors volunteer was out of the question; they wouldn't benefit much from him.

"How about you behave first, dung-for-brains?"

The name pulled mischievous grins out of the other dragons. Looks like Korahnir was a known bully in this lounge. The dragon in question sensed this and so he bared his fangs: "Did you just call me—

"Yeah, shithead! You heard me right! You keep telling EVERYBODY here you're the first in line, so act like it!"

The bully tensed his body. His life signature became a deeper shade of red, though the change only lasted for a moment. Korahnir glanced back at the lounge of apprentices before training his crimson gaze at the human. "If that's what it'll take to prove your uselessness, fine. What do you want me to do?"

"You can start by telling us about your problem."

"'Us'?"

"Dude, I'm not the only one here." Joshua pointed a finger at the lounge behind him. "They're watching too."

Joshua locked eyes with the blue dragon. It wasn't that hard when the guy had white bands over his eyes. He sized up the gap between them. Not exactly snapping range for Kohranir, but that was good enough for him.

"Ughhh," the dragon groaned. He clearly wanted this done as much as Joshua did. "I really have to, huh..."

"Yes, Mister 'First in Line'. Now be an obedient lizard. I don't understand why you're even complaining; Master Volteer's rewarding you handsomely for 'volunteering'."

Korahnir hissed through his teeth at him. Aside from that, he stayed quiet for a few seconds. His sphere of life was in flux, quavering as though Joshua's remarks tested his patience.

It calmed a little, just enough for the dragon to finally speak. "There's a shaping exercise I'm having trouble with." Great, a 'shaping exercise' again. "First I gather electricity in my maw. Next I'm supposed to push and flatten it out in front of me, like a door. Then I have to intensify the power output right before it fades away."

Joshua nodded. He didn't know shit about these exercises but... "Sounds fairly advanced to me," he said. "And for everyone's benefit—we aren't all Electric dragons here—why are you doing this in the first place?"

"It's versatile," answered Korahnir. "Multiple applications in practice, some of which are useful in putting down a certain furless ape." Joshua quickly hid his frown. He let that jab slide and gestured for Korahnir to continue. He's got the ball rolling so far; he needed to maintain the momentum. "Electric dragons with basic proficiency in this, they can perform the Electric Orb. If they're a little better, they can do a defensive maneuver we call the Light Screen. Now, if they master the exercise"—the predatory grin he flashed at the human sent chills running down his spine—"they can send out waves of lightning and inundate a wide area with enough electricity to light weak, fragile, non-dragons on fire. At the very least."

"Allllllright..." Joshua slowly replied. Like the asshole needed to emphasize that. "And what kind of trouble are you having? You know what you're supposed to do, right? I.M.H.O., It sounds like you just need more practice."

The dragon gaped at Joshua when he dropped the acronym. A bit speechless.

One of the apprentices watching them leaned over to their loungemate and, thinking Joshua wouldn't overhear, whispered, "Dragonbane speaks funny..."

"He's a furless ape," their loungemate replied. "Of course he'd be weird."

Korahnir recovered quickly. Studying him, Joshua thought the guy just blew through the confusion and concentrated on the other stuff he said . "I've been practicing for weeks, and I still can't get past the expansion step right. The electricity just curves right around me, and it ends up forming a cone instead of a flat sheet like it's supposed to!"

The gamer hummed. "How about you demonstrate it for me?"

Korahnir snarled. "Go fly in a volcano! You just want me to make a fool of myself. If you think I'm a dumb egg, I'll make you—

"No, no, no!" Joshua exclaimed. "Dude, you got it all wrong. I—

"You can go suck an egg!"

"Well you can go F*CK YOURSELF!"

"What in Alona's name does that even mean?" Korahnir glared. "Did you just curse at me in your stupid ape language?"

"What do you think?" Joshua crossed his arms. "I'm trying to figure out your problem and you aren't letting me. Why WOULDN'T I curse at you?" He was tempted to elaborate what the F word meant.

Very tempted.

Yet the gamer restrained himself. If he revealed what some of his cursing meant, he'd start receiving more hate from this shithead and he could end up losing the opportunity. How many times has his dirty mouth got himself into trouble, both here and back home? Goddammit, he had to stay his tongue.

"I already told you what my problem is!" Korahnir yelled. His tail slapped the floor on instinct. A show of indignant fury. Instinctual. Primal. "It isn't MY fault you're too damn stupid to figure things out! Any other novitiate would just know what my problem is!"

"Yet you're here in this lounge seeking unconventional help." Korahnir opened his mouth to shout back at him, but Joshua beat him to the punch. "I can provide that help, but even my process is unconventional. You need to show me, dude. Show me what you've got, and chances are, I'll know what's up."

"'Chances are' doesn't sound very useful."

"It's a lot better than nothing. Now are you doing this or not?"

Korahnir frowned. As a testament to what little trust he had in Joshua—or more likely his desire to prove him incompetent and just hiding behind the tails and wings of people greater than him—the striped dragon faced a relatively clear space away from the gamer and straightened his posture. He gave his blue wings a quick flap, as though preparaing himself.

Joshua's eyes glazed over into a trance-like state. His ego boundaries extended beyond his own self and, at a thought, surrounded Korahnir's sphere of life. Coating his crimson star in a thin film, foreign sensations coursed through Joshua at the same time Korahnir tapped into his mana and converted it into electricity.

It was an odd, alien feeling, as it had always been. Confusing, to the point Joshua might not have been able to function at all had he not felt the cool, rough stone beneath his own feet, sensed the steady beat of his heart, or felt the sweat trickling down his temple.

Joshua felt the prickling electricity gathering in a ball in front of his—of Korahnir's mouth. The dragon shifted his tongue, his lips, as he moved—as he commanded the golden ball of lightning out and around.

The gamer studied him, his attention not on the physical world, but on the vast star-lit darkness that was his sixth sense. The gift this world blessed him was more reliable than even his enhanced vision. So much more. Fluctuations in every attribute of the crimson sphere that stood before Joshua corresponded with specific parts of Korahnir's body, with the intensity and direction of his focus, as well as the degree to which the dragon was agitated or relaxed.

It was strange, simply knowing all this. The knowledge did not come from anywhere. It was in his head from the very day, the very moment he could sense life, as though it had been uploaded directly into his brain, Matrix style.

Joshua would never lose his awe and amazement at this new reality. It also reminded him—constantly—incessantly—that he was no longer fully human.

It had its benefits, naturally. Without this power, he couldn't have comprehended Korahnir's problem at that instant.

Compared to Vara, Korahnir suffered from a completely opposite problem. While the Ice dragoness focused too much on where her mana wanted to go and not how it got there, this guy was exclusively concerned with simply pumping the power out, as if he could brute-force the skill. Something about the way he curved his tongue and shaped the way he opened his muzzle affected the cone of lightning that shot out of it. Joshua even learned the power behind the exercise was also lacking. A problem the dragon didn't even mention.

Joshua was still engrossed in his thoughts when Korahnir, sending nasty glares at any apprentice who dared to snicker or smirk derisively at him, shut his mouth and ambled closer to him.

"Well?" he said, disdain in his gaze. "What are your thoughts, Dragonbane?" He sneered, "Enlighten us, and be swift about it. I bet everyone is dying to hear what you have to say to me."

Joshua Renalia looked this asshole in the eyes. "Keep your tongue flat. Don't curl it up to the roof of your mouth. When you part your lips, keep the opening narrow. These things are subconsciously affecting the shape of the lightning. You're also letting go too soon. Don't stop feeling your electricity when the mana starts to spread out. Your mana is curving around the natural contours of your body or the magnetic field you naturally emit, and you need to straighten it out when it happens.

"And maybe... maybe you should have your mana go for a certain 'item' or 'point of interest' instead of vaguely thinking it's got to go up, down, left, and right as it leaves your snout." Korahnir gaped at Joshua, but he wasn't through yet. "By the way, you have another problem that you don't even know about: it's not as strong as you can possibly do it. You're overloading on the mana. Your electricity would be stronger if you didn't wait too long to blow it out your mouth. You lose some power that way. Cut the charge time by one-third and you'll see."

The dragon was still. He obviously never expected a voluminous response like this, and certainly not a reply that he could benefit from, either. "I... no! You're wrong! You're just feeding me dung!" Korahnir backed away one step. "You can't—you can't be right! Y-y-you don't even have my Element! That explanation doesn't... It doesn't...!"

His stammering ceased. Corey's sphere of life shuddered violently at Joshua's words. It went yellow, for a brief moment. "B-by the Lifebringer! It, it makes sense to me!"

Immediately Korahnir turned to the side and followed Joshua's advice as best he could. He was so absorbed in his disbelief that he couldn't do it as properly as he should have, but when his mana transformed into electricity and he spat it out his maw, it looked less like a cone with curved ends and more like a screen. The pulse of lightning was slightly more brilliant and more intimidating than earlier.

"Ancestors!" Corey fell on his rump, utterly dazed. "He's right. He's, he's totally right... I can't believe it."

"Well believe it!" Joshua shot back. The dragon said nothing in return.

Seeing Korahnir slump down in defeat prompted the other apprentices to cease murmuring with each other. They went straight to talking about Joshua among themselves.

"He's for real! This isn't some trick!"

"Praise the Ancestors! My apprenticeship! It's saved!"

"But he killed people!"

"Maybe Dragonbane isn't as bad as—

"Didn't you hear Korahnir? He murdered his father—

"He says it's self-defense! It might be true! He isn't acting like the airstreams all say—

"How would you know that? You weren't even there when the furless ape arrived at the gates!"

Joshua Renalia tuned out the voices. He let their arguing pass through his ears and chanced a glance at Volteer, at his childhood heroes. Volteer had a knowing smirk on his muzzle. It brimmed with pride. Cynder's snout, as he could discern, bore a warm smile as well. She looked just as proud as the Electric Guardian.

Spyro? Joshua wasn't really expecting too much from that paranoid jerk, although he was a bit disappointed to realize he was merely frowning, his life signature no more quiet than standing water on a lake.

A dragon snarled over the noise and cried out. "Agh! I don't care anymore!" Another apprentice. "Butcher or not, I need help!" The sound of claws clacking on the floor once again made Joshua turn his sights back to the crowd.

Another apprentice branched off from the lounge and approached the human. "I, I, I'm—please! Please help me!" He dared to go as close as he could. Even closer than Corey did. He did not stop until he stood close enough for Joshua to feel the dragon's presence. "I can't—I, I-I can't be dropped out of the Temple! M-m-mother and, a-and Father are paying too much coin to put me here. I can't fail them. We, we have nowhere else to go. Furless ape, help me!" The dragon lowered himself and kowtowed into a meek, submissive gesture, going as far as bowing his head down. "Please!"

The apprentice was actually smaller than Vara. He looked even more malnourished than she did. Joshua guessed—and unknowingly guessed right—that he came from a rather destitute family in Warfang. For the first time, Joshua wondered about the conditions in the wider city. It would be a very long time from now before he realized just how bad things were in the City of Dragons.

"Dude, it's all right! Lift up your head. Jesus-Mary-Joseph, you don't have to treat me like I'm God or something." Joshua grinned bashfully. He felt some heat in his cheeks. "I mean, I'm here to help. That's why I'm here." It warmed his heart to see a smile form on the dragon's snout. Man, he was probably just a couple years older than Kilat. "Now... why don't you tell us your name? And describe your problem while you're at it?"

The new dragon didn't answer him. He broke eye contact and, after shooting a nervous glance at somebody behind Joshua, decided the floor was better to look at. He seemed... he seemed really shy, Joshua thought.

"His name is Electroy," Volteer spoke up from behind him. "A fairly distant relative of mine," explained the Guardian. "A cousin's grandson, to be precise."

The old dragon crept closer to Joshua. He went as far to lower his head, so as to mutter softly in his ears. The mental picture of a huge dragon with a muzzle big enough for Joshua or even Copeland to crawl into hovering next to an animal as small as he was (relatively of course)... it made for a hilarious image in the gamer's mind. Volteer's voice may have been several octaves lower than usual, but everybody in the cavern—the Saviors, the guards, the observers, the audience—every life form in Windvale Arena had good hearing. Did he seriously think they wouldn't catch his murmurs?

Still, the message he had for the human was anything but hilarious, if tragic. "I'll be grateful, relieved, highly appreciative if you can help him. His family hasn't seen good times since they absconded the town of Skala seeking asylum from the Dark Army, and they're counting on him to get a position in one of Warfang's long-standing guilds. While I can help them to a degree, there's only so much I can and am willing to do."

"Okay. I, I understand," Joshua answered. "I'll do my best." He beckoned at the runt. "Electroy, come here. What's your problem?"

The dragon took a couple steps forward, bringing him within arm's length. His eyes shifted around. He hunched down, hesitant to speak. "I, I don't want to say it," Electroy said. His voice was soft, if sheepish, and a little high on the pitch. Had he been human, he also would've blushed. "It's, err, it's embarrassing."

Joshua felt more confident approaching Electroy than he did Korahnir. Life signature's completely green. Quite harmless, I think. "Lower your voice a little then." He came up to him, placed an arm around the dragon's withers, and leaned in. He noticed neither the dragon's strange reaction to his touch nor the sudden dilation of his eyes.

"So, uh, what's poking your scales?"

"...I... I can't make electicity."

What the f*ck?

"I-I-I-I mean, not like, not like a grayscale!" Electroy stuttered. Jesus, he really had to stop voicing out his thoughts. "It's just that"—he brought the volume down to a whisper—"only sparks fly out when I make electricity."

"Huh? That makes no sense. Aren't you related to—oof!"

"Shh! Quiet!" Electroy's paw struck out at Joshua's stomach. "I've heard it enough times from Korahnir and the other drakes. I don't want to hear it from you too."

Some tittering from the audience reached Joshua's ears, but he paid little attention to it. If there's one thing he learned from elementary school, it's that bullies generally didn't target people unfazed by their actions or, as it was in Joshua's case right now, people who could give those assholes a run for their money or who are under protection of their betters.

"I get it, dude. I get it. But did you have to hit me so hard? Streeg could've charged at you if Copeland didn't see what really happened."

"Who's Streeg?"

"The gnorc knight."

A scared whimper arose from Electroy. Jesus Christ, this guy...

"Anyway, let's see what you can do, okay?"

"Y-you mean I have to do it here? In front of, i-in front of—

"Corey did just that not too long ago. He had the same reasons as you but he did it anyway. You saw how he benefited from my, uh, my analysis. Isn't that why you're here right now?"

"I... o-okay... Egeria's Wings, I understand."

Electroy stepped away from Joshua to make some space and demonstrate, but the gamer clasped his forepaw before he could. "No, keep close to me. This sort of thing, I need to be in physical contact with you."

Electroy tilted his head at him, a puzzled daze in his eyes. "Why?"

"It's what I did for Var—I mean, the dragoness I helped the first time. I'm not shitting"—ah, f*ck. Wrong word.—"I'm not feeding you dragon dung, got it?" Joshua shifted his grip to the runt's withers, tightening his hold on the back of his scaley neck. "Now go."

Electroy didn't do anything.

"Electroy?"

"Can, uhh, umm, c-can you relax your hand juuuust a little? Your"—a ragged pant—"your hand is, errr, is kind of distracting me."

What the f*cking hell? Really? This bullshit again? It wasn't just Vara? F*ck me, was she on to something the other night? Goddammit, no! I DON'T want to be a f*cking masseuse. NO!

Joshua complied with Electroy's request, hoping his irritation didn't show. "Sure. Just do what you normally do, and keep trying. I'll step in once I think there's something I can do."

"Step in? What do you—

"It'll take a while to explain, kid. Just get on with it already."

"Alright, alright. Ancestors, it was just a simple question," the apprentice's voice trailed off. His eyes narrowed in determination. He shifted his paws to correct his posture and opened his maw. Like Korahnir before him, Electroy conjured electricity in his mouth. The closest image Joshua could imagine at this point was that of ANB Spyro, breathing a single bolt of lightning at anything the player pointed his face at.

Except Electroy's efforts didn't lead to the same result. A spark escaped his mouth, and that was that. The audience chuckled at his expense. His wings and tail drooped in consequence, the dragon's sphere shrinking further into itself. Electroy didn't even notice how Korahnir stayed silent while he muttered to himself, "Again."

Joshua Renalia found himself in familiar territory the first time around. After Electroy created sparks again fo the second time, he finally confirmed the similarity of his case to Vara's.

No.

It was identical.

Identical in all respects but the body parts the mana was flowing through.

Joshua could see it all in Electroy's sphere of life; he could also feel it in the physical world. He kept his distance from the intermittent surge in magical activity—to avoid electrocuting himself as he did with Kilat's Electric Orb the other night.

"I'm stepping in, Electroy," Joshua spoke after the dragon made sparks for the fourth time. "Don't fight it, and remember the feeling."

Electroy said nothing to acknowledge his words. His life signature rippled in its place. "Again," he said, and readied himself for the fifth trial.

This time, the second Joshua felt the magic within this apprentice come to life and intensify the luminosity of his sphere, the moment just before the mana poured out of Electroy's core and followed the paths it had been following for years, Joshua Renalia extended his ego boundaries, reached for the rivers of mana flowing across the surface, and grasped it with thought alone.

"I AM ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL," Joshua proclaimed, unknowingly demonstrating a rather intimidating—and decisive—impression of Mass Effect 2's Harbinger.

He forced the mana off the beaten path and pushed it straight into unused pathways. Before, sparks flickered across Electroy's scales, most of the mana wasted in his efforts to channel it. Now, it surged across his bones and straight to his maw. As a result, Electroy's pathetic lifeless sparks became a devastatingly violet bolt of lightning strong enough to leave scorch marks on the floor.

Joshua cut off the connection immediately. A wave of nausea assailed him, causing the human to stumble. Yet he didn't fall. He refused to fall.

Electroy gaped at him, utterly slackjawed. "I did that?" He blinked twice, and ogled the gamer. "You did that?"

Joshua grinned. "I did. And if you follow exactly what I did it—if you can remember the feeling, so can you. Repeatedly."

Korahnir shook off his stupor and, using his superior speed, tackled Joshua before Volteer or any of the Talonpoint knights could react. "How did you do that?" he said. "How can you do that? Did you just control the way that runt channeled his Electricity? That's, t-that's impossi—grrk!"

"Off with you," Streeg bellowed. His gnarly hand squeezed Corey by the neck and threw him to the floor.

Seriphos' sphere of life brightened as his mana flared from within. The stone around the blue dragon glowed an ominous green, ready to become an earthen prison much like the one Spyro encased Joshua in back at Alona Hall.

Copeland unsheathed his sword and pointed the tip at his neck. "Consider yourself lucky, whelp. Had you sunk your fangs into the furless ape, we would've executed you on th spot."

"W-w-what?" Korahnir stammered, panicking at the sudden turn of events. "No! I don't—I wasn't planning on doing that! I just wanted to know how he—

"It's my element," Joshua answered him. "My element allows me to do this."

"But that makes no sense!" Corey screamed. "The other elements can't do that! They don't let you control the others!"

Electroy gazed at him. "Wrong, Korahnir. There's one that does." He gazed up at the seats, up at Spyro, Savior of the Realms. The Purple Dragon.

Corey tried to answer back at this diminutive runt of a dragon, but he couldn't speak, couldn't verbalize anything more than breathless wheezing, too stupefied by Joshua's feat.

Suddenly Windvale Arena turned into a chaotic maelstrom of activity. The other apprentices hurled themselves at the gamer—at a space directly in front of him.

"Mister furless ape, I—

"His name is Joshua, you stupid egg! See, Mister Joshua, I remember your name. You should help me instead—ow!"

"Out of the way! I was here first!"

"No! YOU get out of the way!"

As snarls and growls began rumbling out of the crowd, a dragoness squeezed out from the pile and placed herself before him. She was jumping for joy. "Novitiate Joshua, pick me! Me! Me—gaah!"

Another dragon tackled her out of the way. "No! Pick me! You're the best novitiate Master Volteer brought here!"

"He's not even a novitiate!" someone from the back yelled out.

"Suck an egg! He may as well be one!" someone else shouted in response.

"Novitiate Joshua, my parents work directly with the Councilor Tuconsis. Help me and—

"Azeroth damn you! No bribing!"

"You're just jealous because I've got high-flyers to help me!"

"Don't fall for their schemes, Novitiate Joshua."

"Novitiate Joshua!"

"Novitiate Joshua!"

Joshua Renalia backpedaled as fast as possible as the burgeoning crowd did everything they possibly could to be first in line after Korahnir and Electroy. "Whoaaaa there," he said, raising up his arms. "You guys got me for another hour. There's plenty of time. You don't need to—

Copeland looked back at him. "Don't waste your breath. They're not listening. Let us handle this."

Coloumbrin and Seriphos took positions between Joshua and the crowd.

"Ground yourselves!"

"Stay aloft!"

"Line up in an orderly manner and you will have your turn!"

"We'll throw out anybody who disobeys this command!"

Volteer barked out a cheerful laugh. Joshua tuned out the Talonpoint knights and casually remarked, "Wow. They're hooked."

"The proper term is 'latched onto your tail', young one. And indeed, this moment shall certainly, absolutely, surely propel you to new heights. I postulate you are now several steps closer to regaining your freedom. You have my congratulations for catching this tailwind."

"I wouldn't have done it without you and Cynder, dude."

"Even so, 'dude', well done." The strangeness of hearing Volteer verbalize that word didn't bother Joshua the slightest bit. A buoyant joy filled him from top to bottom.

Practically everyone there gave off signals of happiness or relief in their pulses of life.

Everyone.

Everyone, other than Spyro himself.

"—can't accept this!" Joshua heard him saying. He turned around and sent his gaze upwards, seeing the Purple Dragon literally quaking before Cynder. It strained his ears to shut out the rest of the world and focus on his conversation up in the seats. "I know what I felt!"

"This is reality, Spyro," Cynder said, her posture and tone devoid of warmth. "You can't deny this any longer."

"I can't be wrong." Spyro shuffled back until he hit the wall. "He's dangerous! My instincts never fail me. They never have!"

A forlorn expression appeared on Cynder's snout. "Joshua's not the monster you think he is. The evidence is right there."

Sparx's voice was harder to pick up. It was faint, but Joshua hoped he heard him properly. "Spyro, I'm... I hate to say it, bro, but, she's right."

"You too, Sparx?" Spyro dropped his gaze. He couldn't lock eyes with either of them. "If I was wrong about that ape, if I misjudged him, then... then..."

He shut his eyes. His throat released an uncharacteristic whine. Then the great hero of the Dragon Realms—the Legendary Purple Dragon—Warfang's beloved Savior took to the air and flew out of Windvale Arena, rushing out at a speed so fast it was as though Malefor himself had returned from the depths of the planet.

No one else noticed him leave.

Cynder did not stop him. Neither did Sparx, notwithstanding the sympathetic gaze he directed at the open window.

The dragonfly eventually flew out after his brother, while the former Terror of the Skies settled down to calmly watch the unruly crowd of apprentices in Windvale Arena. Joshua's heart ached when he perceived the turbulence coursing through her soul.

Blink also left. He slipped out the huge doors without a sound, his pointy muzzle showing signs of deep, introspective rumination. The other mole, too, departed the arena with him.

"I conjecture my dear Spyro has just embarked on a journey through the stages of denial," remarked Volteer. The Guardian lifted his paw and touched Joshua's shoulder in a show of support. "All this time he believed you are a danger to us all. A sinister enemy sown among our ranks. I imagine it's an arduous task for him to even accept the mere possibility he made a mistake.

"I admit my peers and I share some of the blame for his behavior. As Guardians—as his mentors, we advised him to be certain of himself at all times. We've been emphasizing, reinforcing, accentuating this for years, and we still do. How else can he be the hero Warfang needs, the beloved Savior of the Dragon Realms? Unfortunately for you, this led to a certain, hmmmm, let's call it 'stubborness'. Honestly, the exact same can be said for Cynder, albeit she had a much different experience with you during the Incident."

Joshua Renalia didn't know how to react. A part of him felt vindictive about that jerk suffering from the realization, yet another felt sadness at the way things have turned out. "I don't know what to tell you, Volteer."

"I don't see any fault in that. It's perfectly acceptable to defer these issues to a future date and process them at your convenience," the old dragon replied. "In the meantime, I must assist your knights. These apprentices have yet to calm down and I believe I can make a few announcements regarding your new position."

"Got it," Joshua said. "Thanks again, Volteer. I owe you everything, a thousand times over."

"You're very welcome."

As the gamer crossed his arms and watched the Guardian join Seriphos and Coloumbrin, he noticed that, out of all the third-party observers in Windvale Arena, only one remained.

It was the cheetah hiding by the utilidor access. His bright red fur stood out. He was staring at Joshua. Ogling him with a pair of green, scrutinizing eyes. His sphere of life was calm. Tranquil. Devoid of any emotion.

He never left that spot for the rest of the time Joshua Renalia stayed in Windvale Arena...

---

Author's Notes:

And that concludes Joshua's first month in Warfang. What a way to end it. XD

Tsk, tsk, tsk, the teen's so forgetful. He already forgot Corvold's name! Poor Corvold. Then again, he hasn't seen him since Clothes Make the Man, and that was like 39 days (in-story) before the events of this chapter.

Oh, and Electroy belongs to whoever owns the TLoS fancomic Pure Light. I guess that's RusCSI now? I don't know. I haven't been following the behind-the-scenes shit for that fic. I needed an electric dragon for (what's currently) a one-time cameo and rather than coming up with my own name and design, I felt Electroy's backstory fits. I've no idea if I portrayed him as OOC but… well.. I can easily change his name if ever. He won't be that important in the grand scheme of things.

Korahnir, or Corey, belongs to me. His character design is ripped straight off a dragonsona GoldenGriffiness conceived for me. I've never had the need or desire to make a sona or use one, so I never used the guy in any other scenario except some art that she made as a gift (for me and others in our shared community) a few years ago.

Until next time, y'all!

BTW: I'll be honest. I was not expecting like 10 reviews for what was basically a filler chapter. Y'all made me feel very happy about that. Thank you!

Replies to reviews:

Chaoscontrol108. Glad you liked the chapter! I don't expect to pop out stuff like this all the time, though. Anyway, this just goes to show Warfang is a living, breathing city.

Blink though... he doesn't really have friends. He can't really relate to his fellow moles because they're "scalelickers", to use his own words. Unlike his canon counterpart in A Hero's Tail, he doesn't have Team Spyro as friends.

Heh, those worms may look disgusting, but I swear man, they tasted good! I'd take those over barbecued pork/chicken intestines any day.

SKdaGamer. Hello! Didn't expect you to leave feedback on this chapter either! Like, I wouldn't have, if I was a reader of Aimless rather than its writer... So thank you very much! You are a far, far better reader than I am, for sure.

The crap isn't just from dragons though. It's from EVERYBODY who uses it. The toilets in the Temple have multiple holes, and the holes grow smaller the further in you go. And this being a medieval city, there aren't any cubicles or walls like in modern toilets. People back in the day didn't give a crap about privacy in the toilets, so I wouldn't expect Warfang to care about that either.

Spyro doesn't care about it though. He subconsciously ignores his work record due to confirmation bias. If you think about it, he's probably one of those who were instrumental in limiting Joshua's work options to begin with. He holds lots of influence after all.

Yeah... from 15K to 3K. You wanted it short, so there you go. Short, just enough for one scene. XDDD This chapter... right back to a longer length. 12.5K! Decent enough. :D

Piston24. The previous chapter wouldn't leave my head, really. I just had to write Joshua's interaction with Blink after he told Vara he was gonna give him a chance. XD

Anyway, he'll definitely be back again. It'll be interesting to write his viewpoints sooner or later...

DiabloPProcento. Hello and thanks for your review! Yes, the prior chapter is 20% the length of the one that came before that. From 15.5K to 3K lol

Glad you liked it. Even happier that you decided to review it.

And since you were curious enough to ask me later on in the exchange, yes, I was originally gonna have Vara play around with Joshua for a bit before she asked him for more help. She would've asked him exactly what she wanted, he would get all hot and bothered over it, only for her to rescind it at the last moment. She'd get a (weak) punch on the shoulder for that, but Vara would find Joshua's agitation highly amusing.

Guest (Guest). Thanks for your review! Yep, Blink does make a good point. I guess I should chalk that up as a potential chapter in the future... so thanks for the idea! A shame you weren't signed in. I would credit you for the chapter if I ever get to writing it.

LoNeWoLf (Guest). Hello, and thanks for your review! Indeed it was. It's the same reason why I decided to call it "Random Musings 2" instead. :)

BronzeHeart92 (Guest). Hehe, thanks so much for your review. Well, I wouldn't dare to call myself a "capable writer". Still, I think "thorough" is a better adjective, considering that I went as far as describing how the city manages its refuse. XD

But yes, people rarely delve into matters like this, even in slice-of-life themed chapters like this one. I think chapters like these breathe life into the setting.

If you have any questions about life in Warfang, or any suggestions for me to look into, why don't you sign in when you leave reviews? We can discuss. :P

JDM (Guest). Haha, yeah, it can get annoying from time to time, but at the same time, it's heartwarming too. When I first started Aimless, I never expected it to be received as well as it did in the Spyro FFN archives.

Well... Joshua practically has a new day job now. XD

Eterius (Guest). Hmmm... there are still two other fanfics that are longer than this story, although this is currently the longest one on the archive that specifically involves a Spyro fan finding himself lost in the video game world. Still, thank you for comment and I'm glad you like my story. Looking forward to seeing you in the chapters to come. (Maybe you should sign in, too, so I can reply directly to you.)

Coollatiospokemon4342. Y'know, when I heard my phone go off when I received your PM, I thought it was stryker getting back to me. I was surprised instead to see your review.

Thank you so much for the feedback. :D It's always a pleasure to read comments like yours. They're one of the reasons I keep writing.

Anyway, "feeling real" is one of my goals in writing Aimless, and so it's uplifting to know you feel this way. And nah, you're not putting too much thought into it. There's another reader who's following my fic with a freaking spreadsheet and he's trying to figure out where the story will go... and whether Joshua will give in and become a furry or a scalie. That guy... yeah, he takes the cake. I never went as far as maintaining spreadsheets even with my favorite fanfics. XDDDD

And you had to drink coffee twice to binge-read through my fic? Good lord! Now that's dedication!

Looking forward to your feedback in this chapter, then.